Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: JOR34175 Country: Jordan Date: 6 January 2009 Keywords: Jordan – Palestinians – Gaza – Employment – State protection This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the primary source material contained herein. Questions 1. Please provide information on the discrimination and the severity of the economic hardship faced by Palestinian refugees from Gaza; their chances of securing employment in the private sector and any harassment they might face or restrictions imposed on them by the authorities. RESPONSE 1. Please provide information on the discrimination and the severity of the economic hardship faced by Palestinian refugees from Gaza; their chances of securing employment in the private sector and any harassment they might face or restrictions imposed on them by the authorities. Twelve potential sources of expert opinion were identified, and they were contacted by email with the following question on dates between 9 and 17 December 2008: A Member of the Tribunal is urgently seeking information about the status and treatment of Palestinian refugees from Gaza residing in Jordan. My research to date indicates that Gazan Palestinians living in Jordan are not entitled to Jordanian citizenship, receive temporary passports with no national ID number, are not able to gain government employment, and are not legally entitled to own land in Jordan. What this research has not provided is a sense of how these (and other) restrictions impact upon the day-to-day lives of Gazan Palestinians in Jordan. The Tribunal would be most appreciative if you could provide information on the discrimination and the severity of the economic hardship faced by Palestinian refugees from Gaza in Jordan, their chances of securing employment in the private sector, and any harassment they might face or restrictions imposed on them by the authorities (RRT Research & Information 2008, Email to Mouin Rabbani: ‘Country Information Request – JOR34175’, 17 December – Attachment 1). Emails requesting information were sent to the following sources: 1. Ibrahim Hejoj, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Jordan (RRT Research & Information 2008, Email to Ibrahim Hejoj: ‘Country Information Request – JOR34175’, 9 December – Attachment 2). 2. Nidal Al-Azzah, BADIL Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights (RRT Research & Information 2008, Email to Nidal Al-Azzah: ‘Country Information Request – JOR34175’, 10 December – Attachment 3). 3. Jon Pederson & Aage Tiltnes, Fafo Research Foundation, Norway (RRT Research & Information 2008, Email to Jon Pederson & Aage Tiltnes: ‘Country Information Request – JOR34175’, 10 December – Attachment 4). 4. Wael Suleiman, Director, Caritas Jordan (RRT Research & Information 2008, Email to Wael Suleiman: ‘Country Information Request – JOR34175’, 10 December – Attachment 5). 5. Oroub El-Abed (RRT Research & Information 2008, Email to Oroub El-Abed: ‘Country Information Request – JOR34175’, 17 December – Attachment 6). 6. Dr. Jason Hart, Senior Research Officer, Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford (RRT Research & Information 2008, Email to Dr. Jason Hart: ‘Country Information Request – JOR34175’, 10 December – Attachment 7). 7. Abbas Shiblak, Research Associate, Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford (RRT Research & Information 2008, Email to Abbas Shiblak: ‘Country Information Request – JOR34175’, 10 December – Attachment 8). 8. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Regional Office for Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific, Canberra (RRT Research & Information 2008, Email to UNHCR: ‘Country Information Request – JOR34175’, 10 December – Attachment 9). 9. Matar Saqer, Public Information Officer, UNRWA Jordan (RRT Research & Information 2008, Email to Matar Saqer: ‘Country Information Request – JOR34175’, 10 December – Attachment 10). 10. Rania Sabbah & Maisa Thweib, UNRWA Jordan (RRT Research & Information 2008, Email to Rania Sabbah & Maisa Thweib: ‘Country Information Request – JOR34175’, 17 December – Attachment 11). 11. Mouin Rabbani, Senior Fellow, Institute for Palestinian Studies (RRT Research & Information 2008, Email to Mouin Rabbani: ‘Country Information Request – JOR34175’, 17 December – Attachment 1). 12. Dr. Geraldine Chatelard, Research Fellow, Institut français du Proche-Orient (IFPO) / French Institute for the Near East, Jordan (RRT Research & Information 2008, Email to Dr. Geraldine Chatelard: ‘Country Information Request – JOR34175’, 17 December – Attachment 12). Responses containing relevant material were received from (in order of date of receipt) Mouin Rabbani, Nidal al-Azza of BADIL, Oroub el-Abed, and Maisa Thweib of UNRWA. Pertinent extracts follow below. On 17 December 2008, Mouin Rabbani provided information on the general situation of Palestinians from Gaza in Jordan. This advice also details the disadvantages and discrimination suffered by Gazan Palestinians in regard to ownership of property and vehicles, employment, and freedom of movement: To begin with I am a little unclear as to what you mean by “Palestinian refugees from Gaza in Jordan”. The reason for my confusion is that this category of persons is sub-divided into two additional categories: 1. Palestinians who normally resided within the Gaza Strip prior to the 1967 Israeli occupation (whether 1948 refugees or not), and who subsequently were expelled or otherwise displaced to Jordan. 2. Palestinians who normally resided within the Gaza Strip more recently and have, particularly since 2000 or thereafter, sought to reside in Jordan. To this may in fact be added a third category: Gazan Palestinians (whether 1948 refugees or not) who were normally resident within Iraq until 2003, and have since sought refuge in Jordan. I can state the following with certainty regarding all of the above: unless the person in question is a woman married to a bona fide Jordanian citizen, or the child of a father who is a bona fide Jordanian citizen, they are not entitled to Jordanian citizenship unless there are exceptional circumstances pursuant to which the government of Jordan may choose to grant such citizenship. It is my understanding that dire humanitarian need does not in and of itself constitute such exceptional circumstance. The official rationale for this reality is that Jordan never exercised nor claimed sovereignty over the Gaza Strip. The pertinent Jordanian legislation extending Jordanian citizenship to Palestinians in the wake of the 1948 War only applied to citizens of British Mandatory Palestine who at the time this legislation was passed resided in territory over which Jordan exercised or claimed sovereignty: namely Trans-Jordan and the West Bank (which collectively became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan). The largest group of Gazans in Jordan are those who sought refuge in Jordan in the immediate aftermath of the 1967 War and the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip, including Gazans who on account of their presence in Jordan during this period were denied the right of re-entry to the Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation authorities. Individuals expelled or deported by the Israeli authorities by administrative decree between 1967 and 1993, as well as individual Gazans who during this period relocated to Jordan for e.g. family or educational reasons and were subsequently denied the right of re-entry to the Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation authorities on account of a lapse of their residency status (an entirely separate subject), are typically counted among the members of this group. As you note, members of this group are not entitled to citizenship, government employment, or property ownership. The latter includes for example vehicle ownership. Thus, displaced Gazans residing in Jordan who seek to own property, for example a vehicle, must register such in the name of a citizen or resident who is entitled to do so. Needless to say, this is an inherently insecure method of operation, and creates a variety of circumstances in which such dependency can be utilised to the legal and material disadvantage of the Gazan resident in question. I am not however in a position to provide you with an accurate assessment regarding the extent to which such relationships are abused. I do however know of cases where Gazan residents in Jordan with the means to acquire such property have declined to do so in order to avoid the potential disadvantages of such relationships. There is, to the best of my knowledge, no formal prohibition on the employment of Gazan Palestinians resident in Jordan in the private sector – though I encourage you to consult someone with more specialised knowledge for a definitive answer in case such restrictions do apply to for example certain sectors of the private sector. Their tenuous status, however, means that as a rule they do not qualify for benefits provided to residents of Jordan for which citizenship is a prerequisite. At a time of growing socio-economic hardship for ordinary Jordanians,